


Of Dumbassery & Apocalypse - jsab fic rewrite

by The_Nightshade_Serpent



Category: Just Shapes & Beats (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Gen, Humor, PK is chaotic dumbass alignment, Slow-ish burn, Square gets corrupted, Square is morosexual, can we get a F in the chat for Square and Scarf, corruption does body horror on corrupted shapes, corruption isn't mind control, mentioned death of minor chars
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:07:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21682699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Nightshade_Serpent/pseuds/The_Nightshade_Serpent
Summary: This is a rewrite of my first jsab fic; 'I have no idea what to title this rn so i'm just gonna title this "o look a jsab fic"'PK is more of a dumbass, characters are changed a little bit personality-wise, but it’ll still more or less be the same. Also slightly different names than in the original.Some angst, some humor, some fluff, and some absolute dumbassery. Same ships, more or less the same interactions, and some p gory transformations thanks to the corruption.PK you fucking feral dumbass, you caused all of this shit to happen.
Relationships: OC X OC, PK and Square, Shapesquad (platonic)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 39





	1. Chapter 1: Shapesquad 01

Well, this was a shitty day. They had been exploring with Scarf, and then the next thing they knew, something had fallen, and then they were booking it away from a large pink shape. 

They had gotten Separated from scarf, and the rampaging pink shape had knocked over the treeangle, and then had jammed it back into the ground. 

Now, everything was pink, and Square was trying to swim after Scarf, who was holding on to a tree for dear life as it drifted away. Emphasis on _trying_. 

Square yelped in pain, as the pink water stung, and on touch made them feel pain, immense pain. They were then dragged out by the other three, screeching. 

“△Holy fuck man, you alright?” Tri asked, crouching next to Square, who was at the moment, laying down starfish style on the ground.

“□Take a _wild_ fucking guess Tri.” Square deadpanned, lowkey hissing in pain. Circ was fidgeting, messing with their fingers nervously, and Penta was ‘looking’ around. 

“△Nice to see that your sense of humor is more or less intact.” Tri said, grinning, before offering them a hand up. Square took it, and staggered up, hissing in pain. Tri automatically went to support them as they regained their sense of balance. 

“□F u c k.” Square hissed under his breath. 

“◯What do we do?” Circ asked, still nervous. If they had eyes, they would have been darting around nervously, but they were trying to calm themselves down, taking deep breaths. 

“⬠I’m not sure.” That was Penta, who was shifting from foot to foot. 

“□Find a way off this island?” Square asked, deadpan, balance regained. 

“△Oh good, Square’s still being sarcastic, the world _isn’t_ ending.” There was a pause, and then all three of the others turned, and if they had eyes, they would have been giving Tri a deadpan expression. “△What?”

“⬠Well, it certainly looks like this is the apocalypse.” Penta said, deadpan. 

“△Damn.” 

“◯Again, what do we do?” Circle asked. The shapesquad looked at eachother, unsure of what to do. Then Square perked up, spotting something.

“□That looks like a gateway!” Square all but shouted, and then bolted over. The other three followed shortly after. It was a gateway, and Square was cautiously pulling it out of the pink water, and dropping it on the ground. 

“◯Think we should go through this?”

“□Well, there’s nothing _else_ that we can do at the moment.” 

“⬠That’s true.”

“△Damn. Let’s at least try not to shatter, if it does turn out to be dangerous.”

“□You just jinxed us didn’t you.” Square deadpanned, turning to stare with nonexistent eyes at Tri. 

“△Shit, sorry man.” 

* * *

The song inside of the gateway was calm, and rather relaxing. Tri, being a dumbass, touched one of the pink orbs, and took a point of damage.

“△FUCK!” they swore, whipping their hand away. “△Okay, the pink things hurt, don’t touch them!”

“⬠Thank you for the scientific process you have gone through.” Penta deadpanned, ducking underneath another pink orb. 

“□And Tri, you’ve also fucking jinxed us.” Square shouted from the other end of the gateway area. 

“△Sorry!” Tri shouted back, dodging another pink orb. “△Didn’t mean too!” Soon, the squad was dashing through the massive circles, made of the small pink orbs. 

“◯This has a very good aesthetic,” Circ noted, “◯Shame it’s dangerous to touch.” 

“□I honestly agree.” 

* * *

As soon as they finished the level, Square reached out and grabbed the triangle thing in the bubble, and the group was transitioned back to the island they were on. The triangle thing in square’s grip popped out of it’s bubble, hovered in the air for a moment, and then shot over to an area and in a flash, caused a bridge to appear. After square did a test step on it, they beckoned the others over.

“□Come, on it’s safe to stand on.” The group managed a couple of steps, before _something_ began clawing at the underside, and some cracks were appearing. They all froze, just as the mindless corrupted flower broke through, claws scrabbling and leaving scratches on the bridge’s surface.

“□△wHAT THE **FUCK** ” Tri and Square screeched at the same time, jumping back, nearly knocking Penta and Circ off the bridge. It clawed at the bridge, enraged, leaving nasty gashes in the surface, and if it had a mouth, it would have been screeching and frothing in rabid rage, before it sunk back underneath the surface of the water. 

The four stared at the hole in the bridge, shaken. 

“□What. the. Actual. Fuck.” Square said softly, never shifting his focus away from the jagged hole. 

“△Same, man.” Tri said, just as quietly. 

“◯What do we do about _that_?” Circ asked, looking vaguely horrified. 

“⬠Dash over the hole?” Penta suggested, looking really unnerved. Square nodded slowly. 

“□That seems like a good idea. I’ll go first.” they took a step forward, and the mindless lashed out again, clawing at the bridge again. Square yelped, and then jumped back, before taking a few, shaky breaths, and then shooting forward, dashing over the thing’s head as it tried to lash out at him. 

Square landed hard, and stumbled before regaining their balance and turning around. The thing was clawing at the side of the bridge that square was on, before sinking back under the surface of the water. 

“□Holy FUCK.” Square breathed, still shaking. 

“⬠Holy fuck indeed.” Penta said, and Tri made a sharp bark of nervous laughter, before darting over. 

Soon, the entirety of the shapesquad was over, and crossing the rest of the bridge, albeit cautiously. A couple of more times they had to dash over those things. Once they were on another island, they all breathed a sigh of relief. 

“△Damn, that was _terrifying_.”

“⬠Shut up Tri.”

“◯Tri’s not wrong though.”

“□Yes, he’s not wrong.” After a pause, Square said, “□Let’s look around, see if there’s anything here.” The group of four nodded, then split up to cover more ground. 

* * *

After a while of searching, they found a shape being held in three separate pieces in floating, light-blue cubes. There were three gateways on the ground. The group of four shared a look, and then sighed. Looks like they’d have to use the gateways a lot more than they had hoped. 

“⬠Well, great.” Penta deadpanned, “⬠We have to go into more of them.”

“△Well, it could be worse.” Tri said, shrugging. “△They could be actively trying to kill us.”

“⬠TRI YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT YOU JINXED US AGAIN” Penta snarled at Tri, as they barely ducked underneath a spikey rounded, cylinder. 

“△I’M SORRY!” Tri shouted, and then got a point of damage taken off, yelping in pain. “△OH FUCK I GOT ONE HIT LEFT”

“□SHUT UP AND FOCUS ON FUCKING DODGING” Square shouted at the two, barely avoiding being hit themself. Circle was the only one who hasn't taken any damage yet, and they were silent almost the entire time, intently focusing on dodging. All of them were pretty sure that this gateway was somewhat-actively trying to kill them. 

They all made it though, Tri and Square having to regenerate ⅔ of themselves, while Penta had to regenerate ⅓. Circle, after getting out, promptly laid down and said;

“◯Fuck, this is like having to run a marathon, but the marathon itself is trying to kill you.” the other three turned to stare at them with non-existent eyes. 

“△Did… did you just _swear_???” Tri asked, if they had eyes, they would have been blinking in surprise and confusion. 

“□Yes, yes they did.” Square said, laying down as well, while holding on to the triangle thing inside of the bubble. “□And I wholeheartedly agree.” Tri began to laugh, seeming bemused at the fact that Circ just swore. 

“△Circ just _swore_! The world must be ending.” they then stopped, and then looked around, while the other three gave them the closest that they could to a deadpan expression. 

“□Oh _really_?” Square asked, deadpan. 

“△I see the problem.”

“□Oh, _do ya_?”

* * *

The next two gateways were _much_ easier and calmer to go through, which was a relief for the squad. 

Although at the current moment, the squad, and the shape that was now snapped back together were sorta just there, awkwardly. 

“◯So, what’s your name?” Circ asked, trying to dispel the awkwardness.

“Tha naem’s Steam.” the new shape, now introduced as steam, said, somewhat awkwardly.

“◯Nice to meet you.” Circ said.

“□Do you think that you could help us?” Square asked, “□We need to find our friend Scarf, and we can’t touch the water out there,” Square pointed at the pink water “□without getting hurt.” 

Steam looked at them, and then at the water, before returning their gaze to them. 

“Aye, Ah can help ye. jist gotta grab mah raft first.” steam said nodding. 

“⬠We should regroup at the volcano.” Penta said, “⬠Gather our wits and set it as a base camp before going out.” The other shapes nodded. 

“◯Plus we can check up on the others there, see if they’re okay.” Circ said

“Soonds like a guid idea.” Steam said, before popping over to an area and digging up a raft, before placing it into the water. “Git oan.” The four shapes did so, and Steam swam off, pushing the raft as they went. 

* * *

“△Oh hey look, the volcano isn’t pink.” Tri stated, as steam weaved around the corrupted pink flowers moving around on the surface. Steam had already freaked out about them, and was just watching them warily as they skirted around them. 

And that’s when the shape from before appeared out of nowhere, and slam-dunked a chunk of treeangle into the volcano’s top before promptly shooting away, vibrating, while most likely causing a path of destruction in their wake. 

“⬠Goddamit Tri you just fucking jinxed us. AGAIN.”

“△How was I supposed to know that **_that_ ** would fucking happen!?”

“◯Guys stop fighting”

“□No, let them get it all out rather than bottling it all in.” Steam was on the raft now, curled up, and watching the shapesquad, slightly amused and slightly panicking. 

“Yer all are veary much like siblings.” Tri and Penta were still arguing in the background, Circ was fidgeting nervously looking at the now-pink volcano, and Square was sitting there, watching, and trying to calm down. 

“□It’s because we technically are.” Square deadpanned to Steam.

“Ah. Alroot then.” 

* * *

After Penta and Tri stopped arguing, the group went inside the volcano. Save for steam, who was just curled up on their raft, and busted out a pack of cards to play solitaire with, trying to ignore the shapes of the mindless in the water. 

The group went inside the volcano, and then ended up running into a wall. 

“□Fuck.” square breathed. “□Anyone know a way around?”

“⬠No, but we could go that way.” Penta stated, pointing to a side cave. 

“◯What if somebody lives there?” that was Circ, who was nervously fiddling with their clawed digits again. 

“□Well, we don’t have another idea, do we?”

“△Well, we COULD go out and climb the volcano.” Square smacked Tri at that.

“□>:/”

“⬠Square, how the fuck did you manage to say that with your mouth?” 

“◯Don’t question it.” 

“⬠I AM FUCKING QUESTIONING IT”

“△Like i am with my sexuality” 

“⬠Tri, is this **_really_ ** the time for jokes?” 

“△When is it ever not time for jokes?”

“⬠Tri, this is the goddamn _APOCALYPSE_.”

“△So?”

* * *

The shapesquad was picking their way through the side cave, yet they couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched by something. And the occasional sound that seemed like something was slithering nearby. 

“△I am getting big spooked from here. It’s spooky time”

“⬠Tri, why are you like this?”

“△Why not?” Square facepalmed, and was fidgeting a bit, and then noticed a slight, almost buzzing sensation on their claws. It was most likely stress, yet their anxiety activated. Having the feeling of being watched was not helping either. They were jarred out of their thoughts by suddenly hearing what sounded like a hiss, which caused them to snap to attention. The other members of the shapesquad, who had been arguing, stopped arguing.

“⬠Did anyone else hear that?” 

“◯Yeah, I did.”

“△ _O god o fuk o shit-_ ” and it was then that some barriers slammed down, and the group was forced into a gateway-like arena of sorts, and a pink serpent-like shape reared out of the darkness, hood/frills snapping open.

“ .-.. . .- ...- .”

“⬠OH F U C K” 

“△Ah shit, here we go again.”

* * *

Circle couldn’t shake the sense of deja vu with this pink serpent-shape. And that distraction ended up causing them to be hit a little more than average. Tri was shrieking, and barely dodging the snake-like attacks, and the other two were sticking to the sides of the arena, dodging any attacks that they came across. 

After the serpent had fled, the shapesquad hurriedly went through the rest of the cave, and kept ‘glancing’ (technically they were just shifting their focus to behind them) over their shoulders, until they were sure that they weren’t being followed.

“△Snakes…” Tri groaned after they had calmed down “△It HAD to be fucking SNAKES.”

“◯I thought you liked snakes?”

“△Not when they’re trying to eat my fucking face”

“◯Fair enough.” The cave in this area was dark, and as such, they were glowing, lighting their way through the darkness. 

“△Damn, this is pretty cool, apart from the fact that we can’t see shit.”

“⬠Tri, please shut up”

“△Make me. PANTA.”

“⬠. . . square can i kill them?”

“□No, but you can punch them later”

* * *

They had ended up passing the gateway once before any of them noticed it. Partially because it was dark. Actually it was mostly because it was dark. Penta ended up tripping over it when they were walking back to the smaller chamber, debating on how they were going to cross the massive amount of pink water that lay between them and getting deeper. 

“⬠We don’t have any sort of ra-ACK” and then the sound of a shape faceplanting. The other three members of the shapesquad turned around, and then they noticed the gateway. 

“△Nice find penta”

“⬠I fucking tripped over it”

“◯You still found it.” 

“□Ah joy, we have to go through _more_ of these fuckers.”

“△Might as well accept our fates as the protagonists.” 

“⬠Tri, please shut up”

“△No.” 

* * *

This gateway started off calm, and rather pretty, with just the drops falling from the hidden ceiling of the gateway.

“◯This is rather nice, compared to the other ones we’ve had to go through.” Circle said. The peace and calm was shattered by Tri. 

“△Uh yall, there’s pink stuff at the bottom now.” 

“□⬠◯What?” that was the other members of the shapesquad, turning to look at the one who had spoken. 

“△Yeah, and it’s rising.”

“⬠Oh no.”

“◯Oh… thats not good...”

“△There are ceiling spikes now as well”

“□With our luck they’re gonna fall aren’t they?”

“△Yea most likely.”

* * *

“△The water physics are BULLSHIT”

“□Yeah, I agree.” 

“◯Hey, at least none of us got shattered!”

“⬠Yet. These things are getting more and more difficult as things get further in.” 

“△Stop being such a downer Penta”

“⬠I’m being realistic here.”

“◯Well, at least we can actually see now.” there was a pause, before Penta spoke up again. 

“⬠Why the hell are the mushrooms a lamp hivemind”

“□Don’t question it, it’ll only drive you mad penta.”

“⬠I AM QUESTIONING IT”

“□Stop it.” The shapesquad parkoured through the area, using the few platforms, moving because of the pink water, to avoid touching any of it. They took a well-deserved break after all of that, huddling together, and regaining their energy. 

“△This has GOT to be the most exercise i’ve ever done in a short amount of time.” 

“□Yeah, most likely.” tri then laid down on the rock ground.

“△I think i’m just gonna… take a nap right here.” tri spoke, muffled from them being face-first into the ground. 

“□We should all take a nap I think. Can’t keep going like this.” Square said “□Good idea Tri.” Tri gave an exhausted thumbs-up in response, still face planted into the ground. The other members of the shapesquad eventually joined them in lying down on the ground, using each other’s limbs as pillows, since sleeping on the ground isn’t very comfortable. 

* * *

“△Note to self: sleeping on ground bad for back”

“⬠Shut up tri, and get off me. You’re pinning me to the ground.” the shapesquad had woken up from regaining their energy, and were now untangling themselves, and having limited success. 

After they untangled themselves, they stood up, and stretched a little bit. The popping sounds signalling that their joints were no longer stiff/locked up. 

“□Alright, we’re going to have to go deeper in.” 

“◯Yeah, we should check up on Lylan too. See if they’re alright.” 

“⬠Good idea Circ.” 

“△Ah shit, here we go again”

“⬠You already used that meme Tri.”

“△It still fits!” 

* * *

The next gateway was rather easy to find thankfully, since it was right in the middle of a cavern. There was the sound of lava bubbling from somewhere beneath them, and the rocky floor here was slightly warm to the touch. 

“⬠We have lava below us.”

“□No fucking shit Penta.” 

“◯Square be nice ^^;”

“△Circle, how the fuck did you say that with your mouth?”

“◯Uh… i…. Don’t know?”

“□We can discuss that later, right now we have a gateway to get through.” 

“△That’s true.” 

* * *

This gateway started with a square-like object in the middle, which soon started shooting smaller square bullets, which were easy to avoid, since they just needed to hang out in a corner to avoid them. Even when the object multiplied into two of them, it was easy to avoid the bullets. 

“△Is it just me, or is this too easy?” Tri asked, nervous. Penta smacked them over the head. 

“⬠Tri you fucking idiot you just jinxed us” At that point, the shapesquad was seperated by the square-like objects that came down the middle and seperated the area into two halfs. 

“◯Tri! Penta! Stop fighting and get towards the top!” Circle shouted at them, “◯There’s going to me a drop!” The two immediately stopped fighting and shot upwards, barely avoiding being struck by the waves that covered the bottom of the area. 

“⬠FUCK” 

“□Keep your eyes peeled! There are more things coming in!” 

“△We don’t have eyes but okay.” it was somewhat easy to avoid them, but tri ended up dashing into a wave of square bullets one time, and took some damage. 

When the pink covering the floor receded, the group prepared for the drop, and for things to hit the fan. And hit the fan it did. 

“⬠FUCK THERE ARE LASERS NOW!?”

“□ITS FUCKING SPINNING NOW TOO”

“△SHIT”

“◯This is fine :’)” Needless to say, it was _not_ fine. 

* * *

Once they were out, the triangle thing they got from the gateway ended up knocking the ground out from under them, and they ended up clinging onto each other as it drifted along the magma current. 

“△That gave me a fucking heart attack”

“⬠Do we even HAVE hearts?”

“◯Are you talking figuratively or literally?”

“□Can we _not_ do fucking philosophy right now?”

“◯Stressed Square?”

“□What do you fucking think?” 

“△Shit man, that sucks.” 

* * *

It was rather calm, drifting along the current, and they regained their energy while they could. 

“△After all of this is over I am going to get the largest damn milkshake possible and knock it back it like it’s a shot.”

“⬠Tri, shut up.” 

“◯Penta be nice.” 

“□Guys can you not fucking argue?” Square asked, pinching the area that would have been in-between their eyes if they had any. “□All of it is giving me a headache.”

“◯Sorry Square.”

“△Yeah, sorry man.” The rest of the trip was done in silence, and once the drifting was done, the group moved off of the rocky raft, and onto the warmer, not-raft rocks, pink lava hissing nearby, and the raft broke and sank down into the lava. 

“□Fuuuck… is this what a migraine feels like?” Square asked nobody in particular, lying down on the ground, a hand pressed against their ‘face’. “□If so I fucking hate it.” 

“△Honestly, it looks like you’re more hung-over than having a migraine.”

“□I still fucking hate it.” Circle was looking around, and eventually spotted the outcrop sticking above the lava, and after a few moments of mentally debating, they called out. 

“◯HEY! LYLAN! ARE YOU HERE?” Square groaned at the sudden loud sounds. 

“□Fuck, that makes it _worse_ ”

“△Yeah, definitely more hungover than migraine.” 

“⬠How do you know what being hungover feels like?”

“△I like some types of alcohol. Mostly for the taste. Though most of them go against my sense of taste.”

**_“_ ** **_⬠_ ** **_Your sense of taste is a fucking roulette wheel”_ ** While the rest of the squad was quietly arguing/talking, (save for square who was just discosating at the moment) Circle was waiting for a response, and after a while, got one. 

A blue, nervous-looking plant shape poked their head out for a moment, before spotting Circle, and giving a nervous, yet friendly wave. 

“◯LYLAN! :D” the plant shape, now known as Lylan hesitantly came out slightly, but still stayed far away from the edge of the ledge.

“Hey Circle” their voice was quiet and hesitant, and they still seemed a little nervous, but was genuinely smiling. 

“◯Glad to see that you’re okay! It’s a real shitstorm out there!” 

“What… exactly happened? There was a good deal of commotion, and everyone went out to see what was going on. Even little Cryptic.” 

“◯It’s a very long story, and it’s kinda... freaky.” Penta and Tri were both standing over Square in the background, concern showing from them. Square was also no longer discocating apparently, if the covering of their face and looking slightly pained was any hint. 

The two shapes ended up chatting for quite a while, Circle more energetically, and Lylan more introvertedly. Tri was now supporting Square, and was more of less hugging them with one arm, and letting them lean on them. Penta was awkwardly standing there, unsure on what to do. Square was holding their head in one hand, occasionally wincing in pain. Tri also appeared to be giving advice to Square, and Square was listening to them. The two shapes finished up their conversation, then Circle went over to the rest of the shapesquad. 

“△-Ice usually helps with hangovers, but since we don’t have any here, it’d probably be best to use cold rocks or plant life.”

“□We’re in the middle of a fucking volcano” Square deadpanned. “□Where the hell could we find cold rocks or plant life.” 

“△Okay, good point.” Tri turned to circle at that point. “△Hey circ, you know of any cool-ish plant life here?” Circle paused, thinking about it, before looking around. 

“◯Well, there are mushrooms. We can use those. Better than nothing at least.”

“□I fucking hate this.”

“△We know Square.” 

“◯I’m going to go and grab one. Be right back.” with that, Circle dashed off, and soon came back with a decently-sized mushroom cap. “Found this, and also there’s a gateway over there.”

“□ _Fuck_. I’m going to have to go through it feeling like shit.” Square groaned, and promptly laid down again. 

“◯Maybe not. Here put this on.” Circle said, handing Square the mushroom cap. Tri started snickering, and Circle turned to look at them, confused. “What?”

“△Put _on_. Like a hat? Or just to faceplant into it?”

“◯Oh.” Square was faceplanting into it, and it was working a little, judging by the fact that they relaxed a little bit. 

“△Now I can’t help but imagine Square wearing it like a hat. Hungover Mushroom.” Circle snickered a little bit at the mental image, and Square flipped them off, irritated. Penta was still sorta standing there, awkwardly. Honestly, Lylan was doing something similar on the ledge above the lava as well.

* * *

Square was feeling mostly better soon, and chucked the mushroom cap to the side. The other members of the shapesquad looked up and focused on them as they stood up. 

“□Let’s get this shit fucking over with, since i’m not going to get any better.” 

“◯Alright, lets do this.”

“△I’m willing to help you, since you’re most likely not going to be focusing as much now because of that.” 

“□Thanks Tri.”

“⬠I’ll help too, in case Tri misses something.” 

“□Thank you Penta.” 

“△Lead the way Circ, you know where it is.”

“◯Alright, follow me.” 

* * *

The gateway started almost immediately after the shapesquad went in, with two types of pink bullets, on the right, circles, and on the left, squares. It was rather calm and relaxed as well. (Which was a mercy on Square’s for some reason hung over ass) after a while, the far left and far right had some lasers or something similar shoot down, and after they faded, there were rolling masses of pink bullets, and some comet-like bullets appeared as well, slowly moving around the area. 

“△Damn, this has some good-ass aesthetic.” 

“◯Yeah, I agree.”

“△I’m big mad that this is harmful to us.” 

“◯We know Tri. We know.” Circle looked around, and then dashed to the top hurriedly. Square followed. 

“⬠Heads up! We have bullets incoming!” 

“△OH FUCK” 

This would continue, with some more comet-like bullets being added as time went on. It was relaxed, and nice, a welcome break for all of them. Then the rolling masses of bullets on either side sunk into the blackness, and more and more of the comet-like shapes got added. 

“⬠There’s going to be a drop, isn’t there?”

“◯Probably.” 

“△Ah shit, here we go again.”

“□Are those fucking _cannons_?” Square suddenly piped up, focused on the walls of the area. 

“⬠◯△What?” the other three members turned to look. Yep, those were definitely cannons. How did those even get here in the first place?

“△Well shit. Looks like our calm is about to be _shot_.” Penta’s head snapped around to face Tri, who was grinning, and the only reason Penta didn’t dash over and strangle them for that pun was that the canons started firing, and as one, they all dashed out of the way, swearing. 

The remaining part of the shapesquad’s time in that gateway was spend madly dashing around, trying to avoid getting hit by the now much faster comet-like bullets. The other members of the shapesquad got hit more than they would have, because they were jerking square out of the way of any bullets they hadn’t spotted. 

“△THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME BUT I WOULD _VERY_ MUCH PREFER IT IF IT _WASN'T_ TRYING TO KILL US.” 

* * *

The shapesquad came out a little more worse for wear then in the previous ones. Almost all of them had taken two hits, and Tri was limping a little bit. Or at least they were before Square picked them up and kept on walking. 

“△Thanks Square.”

“□You’re welcome.” 

“◯Let’s go on and take a rest to regenerate and regain our energy before continuing, does that sound good?” 

“△You are a genius Circ. I love you.” 

“◯Thanks?”

“⬠I think Tri got hit on the head too many times.” 

“△HEY! >:0”

“⬠And it’s stILL BUGGING ME ON HOW YOU GUYS CAN SAY THINGS LIKE THAT WITH YOUR MOUTHS.”

“△S U F F E R >:3c”

“⬠STOP IT”

* * *

Circle and Lylan were talking again. The rest of the shapesquad was in a tangled pile of limbs, asleep by the looks of it. Either way, they were relaxing, and recharging, since they had already healed their injuries. After a while, the other members of the shapesquad started untangling themselves, and Circle wrapped up their conversation with Lylan. 

“□Time to get moving now Circ.”

“◯See you later Lylan!” Circle chirped at Lylan, waving cheerfully. Lylan returned the wave. 

The shapesquad was all on the new rocky raft, that the small triangle had knocked out from the roof of the area, when they heard the cracking. Lylan had decided to watch them leave, and now, the ledge they were on was cracking, and tipping down. Lylan was panicking, and made a dash for safety, but ended up falling with it. Square was already dashing over, and leaping in, before the others could react. 

Well, that was a really stupid thing that square did apparently, considering that they almost immediately shot out, screeching in pain, before promptly collapsing. 

“⬠O H F U C K”

“△SHIT!” Circle wasn’t reacting, still processing what had just happened. The raft underneath them lurched, and the two shared a panicked look. 

“△I’ll grab Square, you pick up circle. We’re going to have to dodge some things.” Penta nodded sharply, and grabbed Circle. Tri managed to get a hold of square just in time, as the raft was forced upwards, as well as a good amount of lava. 

Then a half-melted, partially pink thing started crawling and lunging at them, screaming. Fleshy petals were melting, and merging, their mouth was nearly being melted shut, and it most likely would have, if they weren’t screaming constantly. Thorn-like spines were tearing their way out of they’re body even as they watched, the half cracking, half fleshy ripping sound not being pleasant. Circle was crying now, and clinging onto Penta. Square was still out, twitching and occasionally hacking up what was probably blood. They didn’t have the time to check whether or not it was. 

“⬠OK WELL I THINK I KNOW WHAT THE HELL THOSE PINK THINGS OUTSIDE WERE.” 

“△YEAH I THINK I KNOW TOO. AND ITS FUCKED UP.” 

* * *

As soon as the rocky raft hit the ceiling, Penta and Tri jumped off, taking Square and Circle with them. The two landed hardly, and then bolted for the exit, squeezing through the small opening. Once they were out the two stopped, and were panting. 

“△I think I saw my life flash before my eyes”

“⬠We don’t have eyes.”

“△Well I still saw it.” Tri gently set Square down, who hacked a mix of pink and blue fluid out, twitching. “Damn, what the hell is this turning pink shit?” Penta had set down Circle as well. Or had tried to. Circle was still stubbornly clinging onto them, crying and shaking. 

“⬠I don’t know.” Penta said, looking over their shoulder. Nothing was in the lava, and that was making him MORE nervous. “⬠some sort of disease?”

“△Don’t think it’s a disease. Maybe some form of… corruption?”

“⬠Let’s go with that.” Penta was soon by Tri’s side, observing square, who had stopped hacking out the gunk, and was still twitching. Circle had calmed down somewhat, and separated themself from Penta to go and help Square into a sitting position, and supporting them, taking large, shaky breaths. 

“◯Do you think they’ll be okay?” Circle’s voice was unusually quiet for them, and was also shaking. 

“△I will be frank with you circle: I’m not sure.” 

“⬠I feel the same as Tri.”Square started to stir, and then promptly doubled over and vomited, shaking, and making small sounds of pain. 

“△You okay man?” Despite their pain, they turned to give the closest they could to a deadpan expression to tri. 

“□Does it fucking-” then they vomited. Again. 

“△Ok message received.” Circle had noticed something, and had gently took the one of Square’s hands into theirs. 

“◯Square…” they said, voice tinted with fear, worry and intense sorrow ”◯Your claws are turning pink.” 

“△Oh shit” if Square had eyes they would have blinked before looking themself, forcing the flares of pain to the back of their mind for now. 

Yep, their claws were pink now, and it was spreading. Their mind screeched to a halt, remembering Lylan. _You’re going to hurt them if you stay._

“□I-I need to leave. I need to get _away_ .” The other members of the shapesquad shared a look, and then approached them. Square shoved Circle off of them and scrambled back, on the verge of a panic attack/breakdown. The pain was forcing its way through, and with it, the pink was spreading. “ □ stAY _AWAY FROM ME_.” 

“△Square, it’s going to be okay, calm down, plea-”

“□STAY. AWAY.” Square was somewhat teetering on the edge now, pain prominent, their vision turning pink at the corners, and the feeling that their back was starting to crack. 

“◯Square-” Square promptly turned and jumped, landing hard, feeling their ankles crack, and started half falling, half sliding down the volcanoes side. The rest of them would have followed them, if it hadn’t been for the timely arrival of a completely pink, screeching, Lylan forcing their way through the small opening, tearing themselves open in the process. 

The shapesquad ran, even if they didn’t want to. 


	2. Mini-Chapter: Growth by Corruption

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the first 'Mini-chapter' of this fic, which will give more insight to a character's personality, or world-building, but won't be directly linked to the plot.

They _loathed_ being small. Hated it with more inches than they had in their body. If they were larger, they’d be more intimidating, and if they were more intimidating, they’d finally make people  _ go away _ , so they could finally have some  _ quiet _ . They hated most of the other shapes that lived here too. They were _far_ too _loud_. To much energy and noise. Hence why they lived near the edge, in a quiet cavern. 

The only shape that they actually somewhat liked in this place slightly was the plant shape that came down to get away from all of the loud, and read. Cryptic liked them because of that. Though they were not as fond of the nickname that they had been given. ‘Little Cryptic’ they were not little! (Okay maybe they were, but they hated it.) Yet they were forever cursed to be small it seemed like, since they hadn’t felt the itch to shed their skin in ages. 

Or they were, until the water turned pink.

It had been curiosity that had first brought them to the water’s edge, to dip their tail in the water. It itched sure, but it wasn’t bad, so they went in, curious. Then they started hearing cracking sounds, and they whipped their head around, expecting there to be some rocks falling. There wasn’t any though. Then they felt more than heard the pop, and turned to look at themself. There were cracks littering their back, like when they used to shed, and they perked up. 

“... .... . -.. ..--..”

Cryptic shot out of the corrupted water and then started checking themselves over, feeling more pops as segments of skin started popping off, just like when they were shedding, except for one thing: they weren’t coming off. So, they started removing them, peeling away the chunks of skin. They did notice that this shed was a lot more bloody than their previous ones, but they ignored it. They could see their muscle underneath the clear protective layer of skin that covered it,(That was normal for their kind’s sheds) which was turning a pale pink rather than being the normal grey. They grew new skin though, like always when they shed. 

Shame, they actually had somewhat liked their grey and black coloring, but this shades of pink, with some white here and there was definitely nice. Brighter, and more noticeable. Good intimidation potential. The final bits of their old skin melted together, and after a few moments, they discovered that they could move them. 

Flare, fold. Flare, fold. Flare, fold. 

They were really liking this. They had frills now, albeit small ones. They also noted that they were noticeably larger now. 

Flare, fold. Flare, fold. 

Maybe… it’ll happen again if they went in?

Rinse, repeat. Rinse repeat. 

After the second time they dipped in, they didn’t change. They were  _ plenty _ large now though. 

They liked this. They liked this quite a lot. 

They should test this out, see how effective it is. 

Flare, fold. Flare, fold…

And they very much loved these new frills (or was it a hood?) and loved the patterning that they had developed. Their snakes had changed too, they noticed as well. They were larger as well, and pink. 

This was great!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this just in: cryptic was a loud-noise hating gremlin that was filled with more rage that they could fit in their body before the corruption. they do mellow out a little after corruption though lol (even if they're still a gremlin who hates loud sounds with a passion)


End file.
